The present invention relates to digital imaging systems, and particularly to a technique for determining the position of a portable, digital image detector in such systems.
A number of radiological imaging systems of various designs are known and are presently in use. Such systems generally are based upon generation of X-rays that are directed toward a subject of interest. The X-rays traverse the subject and impact a film or a digital detector. In medical diagnostic contexts, for example, such systems may be used to visualize internal tissues and diagnose patient ailments. In other contexts, parts, baggage, parcels, and other subjects may be imaged to assess their contents and for other purposes.
Increasingly, such X-ray systems use digital circuitry, such as solid-state detectors, for detecting the X-rays, which are attenuated, scattered or absorbed by the intervening structures of the subject. Additionally, these digital detectors may be portable, and more than one digital detector may be present in a general area for imaging, such as within a room in a medical facility for taking X-ray images of a patient. If the room or other area has multiple digital detectors, however, it is possible that a technician may place one of the detectors in position to receive X-rays from a radiation source of the imaging system, while the imaging system may instead interact with a different digital detector that is not in position to receive X-rays passing through the patient or other object of interest. In such an instance, additional exposures may be needed to receive the desired image data from the appropriately positioned detector, and such additional exposures may not provide any additional diagnostic benefit to a patient.